The Role of Digital Media and Challenges to Buddhist Peace Education in Conflict Affected Myanmar: A Case Study of a Buddhist University in Mandalay

บทคัดย่อ

Experiencing a civil war for several decades, religious groups in Myanmar have launched peace education programs for broader communities. Digital media have become important in how peace education is taught and accessed in conflict-affected contexts. Religious peace education practices in conflict-affected areas and media’s effect on religious peace education in Myanmar remain understudied. This study examines peace education initiatives at a Buddhist university in Mandalay through a case study. It explores 3 intersectional issues: (1) the challenges to Buddhist peace education at a time of conflict; (2) the effect of digital media on peace education; and (3) how Buddhist monks negotiate the tensions between the freedom enabled by digital technologies in peace education and concerns over traditional monastic regulations. Data collection included both documentary research and ethnographic fieldwork during February and March 2025. By integrating a critical peace education approach and mediatization theory into the analysis, the findings reveal that Buddhist peace education faces challenges not only from conflict-related disruptions but also from institutional management issues and religion-based problems. Buddhist peace education is not a coherent moral system; it is a contested field shaped by hierarchical religious power, Buddhist-centrism, interreligious tensions, and gender inequality (for sustainable peacebuilding). The study finds that digital media plays a significant role in enabling peace education amidst constraints from the conflict and political context. Tension between the freedom offered by digital technologies and traditional monastic regulations leads monks to see more benefits than drawbacks and to advocate mindful, appropriate media use for meritorious purposes.